Why are UMC kids graduating 1 yr early from college?!?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To take some gap years.

B.S. It's to both save money and start life. It's called opportunity cost. Google it. It's silly to piss away a year of life "taking courses". The magical part of undergrad is that first year and second. After that, mature students are eager to move on. Finish as quickly as you can and either jump into a career or head to medical or law school, so you can quickly finish that and make some real money.

The ones I know doing this have extraordinary credentials and want to attend grad school

Umm... yeah... that means they are starting grad school a year earlier and will finish grad school a year earlier...thus, starting their professional life a year earlier. And will in theory likely marry and have a child a year sooner. Old farts needs to stop romanticizing being pot smoking loafers in a college town for a year at age 21-22, like that in any way helps you. The world moves FAST now, so surprise overachieving kids are reacting.

Is that you brunch granny?

You're projecting. Go take your cats for a walk.

Ah, yes. Married young and why on earth doesn't everyone want to do this. #Luvthislife.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Seeing/hearing from neighbors, acquaintances & relatives that their 2024 kids are graduating next month instead. WHY? You’re only young once! It’s crazy to me. There’s no way this is a money thing. It’s so sad. And these kids probably stifled their professional prospects due to not having time to do multiple internships. Why such a rush to grow up?

Most of my DD's friends who are in this situation earned a tone of AP/IB credits that basically took care of the first semester and then some their early credits. My DD is in this situation, she will stay to work on her Masters in the fourth year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Seeing/hearing from neighbors, acquaintances & relatives that their 2024 kids are graduating next month instead. WHY? You’re only young once! It’s crazy to me. There’s no way this is a money thing. It’s so sad. And these kids probably stifled their professional prospects due to not having time to do multiple internships. Why such a rush to grow up?

It shouldn't take four years to finish a BA -- especially if you were admitted with 20 to 30 AP and/or dual enrollment credits, as nearly every overachiever has done for the last 20 years. At today's astronomical costs, finish as quickly as you can.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Alot of the top tier private colleges/universities are limiting the number of credits you can transfer from DE/AP. Assume it's a combination of not thinking they are the equivalent of their entry level courses + they don't want to lose the tuition money. They do allow "placing out" of classes with some that they do not grant grad credit for. I'm annoyed as my DC is graduating HS with alot of AP/college credits and cannot use them. I will encourage DC to graduate a semester early with credits he can use (capped at 4 courses), however, only to save tuition costs.

People should research colleges based on their AP/DE/IB and yes, CLEP acceptance policies before accepting an admissions offer if that is important to them.

They can use them, just not at the school you want.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:All the AP classes taken in MCPS and going to OOS publics where they accept the APs makes it super easy to graduate in 3 years, saving tens of thousands of dollars, which in our case, can then go toward grad school

My UMC MCPS grad also got credits for AP classes in UMD-CP. He could finish in 2.5 years if he wanted. Instead, he chose to double major in CS and Maths in 4 years. Also, since tuition was paid through merit scholarship, he wanted to utilize it for all 4 years, since getting these dual majors was costing him zero dollars. Grad school will certainly happen for him.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Seeing/hearing from neighbors, acquaintances & relatives that their 2024 kids are graduating next month instead. WHY? You’re only young once! It’s crazy to me. There’s no way this is a money thing. It’s so sad. And these kids probably stifled their professional prospects due to not having time to do multiple internships. Why such a rush to grow up?

It shouldn't take four years to finish a BA -- especially if you were admitted with 20 to 30 AP and/or dual enrollment credits, as nearly every overachiever has done for the last 20 years. At today's astronomical costs, finish as quickly as you can.

At top schools like Brown & Dartmouth everybody there is either comfortably full-pay or covered by financial aid so “basking in the experience” is very emphasized.

Cornell, Stanford, Columbia & basically any public U do allow early grad

[Anonymous]

All college paying generous merit scholarship would love for you to finish early.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:All college paying generous merit scholarship would love for you to finish early.

Schools paying merit scholarships (publics & less-selective privates) generally let kids graduate early.

[Anonymous]

College isn’t like it was in the 90s or 00s people

It’s not fun and carefree anymore

Best to finish it asap

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:College isn’t like it was in the 90s or 00s people

It’s not fun and carefree anymore

Best to finish it asap

It has always been like that for students with real majors studying serious stuff.

Kids majoring in easy stuff are always have fun and carefree and all about 'college experiece' especially the ALDC kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:College isn’t like it was in the 90s or 00s people

It’s not fun and carefree anymore

Best to finish it asap

My DS will graduate next month one year early. He already accepted a job offer for 105K/year. He can't wait to graduate and start making money. He did two internships after his freshman and sophomore year and according to him, work is so much easier than college. To him, three years of undergrad is more than enough.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Seeing/hearing from neighbors, acquaintances & relatives that their 2024 kids are graduating next month instead. WHY? You’re only young once! It’s crazy to me. There’s no way this is a money thing. It’s so sad. And these kids probably stifled their professional prospects due to not having time to do multiple internships. Why such a rush to grow up?

Because it's time to grow up. Have your own salary, own apartment, and a great time with your friends. Meet interesting people at work. Land the helicopter.

Many new graduates are working in jobs that are hybrid or remote, in this post-COVID world. It's more difficult to meet people at work, depending on the job obviously.

Unless there is financial pressure, it seems like a shame to rush through college, when you have a lifetime to work.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All the AP classes taken in MCPS and going to OOS publics where they accept the APs makes it super easy to graduate in 3 years, saving tens of thousands of dollars, which in our case, can then go toward grad school

My UMC MCPS grad also got credits for AP classes in UMD-CP. He could finish in 2.5 years if he wanted. Instead, he chose to double major in CS and Maths in 4 years. Also, since tuition was paid through merit scholarship, he wanted to utilize it for all 4 years, since getting these dual majors was costing him zero dollars. Grad school will certainly happen for him.

I wish my niece had followed this path. She got a lot of financial aid to attend a top public university. She finished in 3 years with a film studies major. I suggested that she consider doing a double major with something kind of practical, just as a fall-back, since her education was mostly "free" to her. She refused to consider the idea. I thought it was a waste of a year of free education at a top public university, but the brain of a 21-year-old is not fully developed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:College isn’t like it was in the 90s or 00s people

It’s not fun and carefree anymore

Best to finish it asap

My DS will graduate next month one year early. He already accepted a job offer for 105K/year. He can't wait to graduate and start making money. He did two internships after his freshman and sophomore year and according to him, work is so much easier than college. To him, three years of undergrad is more than enough.

This is my DS, too. They'd rather work and earn money, and be independent, than "bask in the college experience".

But DS will also probably double major or minor CS/math.

We may be UMC, but we don't have family wealth. Everything we have either goes towards retirement or funding college or helping family.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All the AP classes taken in MCPS and going to OOS publics where they accept the APs makes it super easy to graduate in 3 years, saving tens of thousands of dollars, which in our case, can then go toward grad school

My UMC MCPS grad also got credits for AP classes in UMD-CP. He could finish in 2.5 years if he wanted. Instead, he chose to double major in CS and Maths in 4 years. Also, since tuition was paid through merit scholarship, he wanted to utilize it for all 4 years, since getting these dual majors was costing him zero dollars. Grad school will certainly happen for him.

I wish my niece had followed this path. She got a lot of financial aid to attend a top public university. She finished in 3 years with a film studies major. I suggested that she consider doing a double major with something kind of practical, just as a fall-back, since her education was mostly "free" to her. She refused to consider the idea. I thought it was a waste of a year of free education at a top public university, but the brain of a 21-year-old is not fully developed.

Yeah that sucks in her case, because you just don't get that kind of opportunity for a free year of education in whatever you want later on when you're 27 or 35 or ever.